Kotaku has heard from multiple sources close to the project that the code-name for Microsoft's next console is Durango.

Yup. Durango.

Note this is a code-name. Like the Katana (Dreamcast), Dolphin (GameCube) and Revolution (Wii) before it, it's not the name that will appear on the finished product when you finally get your hands on one.

It is the name, however, that you'll be hearing during the console's final development phase, that awkward time between it being first shown off and then actually released to the public.

Interestingly, it seems to also suggest a bit of a pattern in Microsoft's recent internal naming policies. While naming projects after places is nothing new, the company seems to be in favour of warmer climates these days; Kinect, before we knew it as Kinect, was called Natal, named for a city in Brazil. Durango, meanwhile, is the name of one of Mexico's 31 states.